The Veritable Key of Solomon

«I have said in my heart, "I will enter deep into the wonderful secrets of this vast Universe that the Almighty Creator has made, with a profound respect. And since He has shared His wisdom with me, I will use it to glorify the supremacy of His Creation.» — abre el prefacio del Key 1, The Keys of Rabbi Solomon, en la voz de Salomón: el conocimiento del universo se declara don compartido por Dios y su uso, alabanza.

«If previously in my Book of Proverbs, I said, that it is wise to hide the King's secret and keep it close to your chest» — el mismo prefacio se enfrenta con su propio precedente bíblico antes de revocarlo.

«will change what I have said and declare that it is good to publish the secret of the Kings and to share them between true wise men and not to hide any secret from them, unless they are foolish, so that each wise person may be able to gain supreme power, which is his right.» — la revocación: el Key 1 justifica su propia publicación invirtiendo el proverbio, con la única reserva de los necios.

«This is what has prompted me to write this mystical Book, which I call 'The Keys' or 'The Mystical Keys' and by calling it by this name, I do not mean for it to be fanciful in any way.» — el texto explica su título y niega que sea metáfora.

«By means of these Keys, you will be permitted to penetrate into the deepest secret chambers. And with the help of this little work [po ii] you will be able to enter into the knowledge of miracles, which the Lord God has kept locked up in the Palace of the Universe, which he has created as a dwelling place for mankind.» — la promesa del prefacio; [po ii] es el folio del manuscrito, marcado dentro del cuerpo por la edición.

«In this work, everyone will find something pleasing according to his own expectations. Great men will remain great, and the lowly will rise out of the dust; men of war will succeed in their dangerous missions; the poor will become rich and the rich will preserve their wealth and their treasures will increase; the sick will regain their health and those who are already in good health will prevent or delay the onset of disease. In short, all manner of good fortune will come to the wise man who knows exactly when to use this mystical Key, which holds the wonders hidden in Nature.» — el reparto de beneficios por estado social, y la condición que los gobierna: saber cuándo.

«They will learn how to command the Spirits, which the Lord God has created from each of the Elements, so that they can serve the followers of Cabalistic Wisdom in their different ministries.» — la doctrina que sostiene la operación: los espíritus son criaturas elementales creadas por Dios para servir.

«For those who wish to devote themselves to this science, it is important that they believe with conviction in the Spirits,l who are free from base and worldly matters. The Cabalist sages have called them Gnomes, Sylphs, Salamanders and Nymphs, and they have extraordinary powers to do quite remarkable things, when you request them to do so with the appropriate ceremonies.» — la creencia se pone como requisito operativo, y los cuatro nombres elementales se adjudican a los sabios cabalistas; la l es llamada de nota.

«You should also be aware that there are hours, days and seasons, which are more suitable, some more than others, for your Prayers, Invocations and Conjurations to gain their good will, and this will be treated in more detail in the course of this Book.» — la segunda condición del prefacio: el tiempo elegido.

«Before anything else, you should be warned that you cannot omit anything from the instructions, which have been laid out for working with the Mysteries of this Great Art.» — capítulo I del Key 1: la primera regla es que el procedimiento no admite recortes.

«In addition, it is pointless to question the relationship between the Planets and a piece of virgin parchment paper, or a metal plate charger. with a number of Talismans or Characters, which can produce such admirable effects.» — el texto declara fuera de lugar la pregunta por el vínculo entre planeta y soporte material del talismán.

«In the same way, it is useless to suggest that there is some explicit or implicit pact in this Art.» — el Key 1 rechaza de entrada la acusación de pacto, que es la que hacía condenable al grimorio.

«You will need to be hard working and you will need to apply yourself and devote your whole attention to working with the Art. You will need to abstain from strong drink, detach yourselves from worldly pleasures and sexual immorality, so that you will never be distracted from your work. Since [even] one error committed will have serious consequences.» — la disciplina exigida, con la razón operativa: un solo error tiene consecuencias graves; los corchetes son de la traducción.

«You should also be well versed in Astronomy, or at least be under the guidance of someone who is.» — el requisito astronómico, con la alternativa de trabajar guiado por quien lo cumpla.

«Above all, you should be fearless and courageous and stand firm when you call up apparitions of Spirits. And if [po 3] one of them challenges your control, you should have some supportive and inconspicuous person accompany you. For a weak mind, being naturally inclined to create imaginary phantoms that never go away, [it] will create an overpowering fear.» — el texto explica el miedo por la debilidad de la mente y prescribe un acompañante; [po 3] es el folio del manuscrito.

«In short, you should have great confidence and be determined to expect success, and you should observe everything that is set out in this precious Book exactly, as it contains all the mysteries of the Cabalah.» — el cierre del capítulo I, con la autodefinición del libro.

«This is the Confession that you should make before beginning any work. Do not believe that it is a superstition, since the Sovereign Authority will be pleased to share his favours with those who are humble in their hearts and who confess that they are upright» — el texto introduce la confesión y sale al paso de la objeción de superstición.

«I also despise the crimes that I have committed through wicked and impure thoughts and reflections, false suspicions, rash judgments, bad advice, which I have taken, adopted and showing favour to the advice of the impious; through lusting after pleasures of the flesh and all manner of sensuality.» — de la confesión misma, que enumera pecados de pensamiento junto a los de obra.

«Because the essence of Spirits and other Celestial Intelligences contain in part some of the nature of God, so they will appear to us and talk to us more willingly in the stillness of lonely places.» — capítulo II del Key 1: la razón doctrinal del lugar apartado está en la naturaleza participada de los espíritus, no en el secreto.

«You need to have procured a small chamber or a secret room, into which no one else is able to enter, in particular girls and women, who can defile its cleanliness through their menses, which is a natural weakness.» — la exclusión de mujeres del recinto, con la razón que el propio texto da.

«It is important that the place, which you have chose is also clean, because you will not be able to use any decoration or unnecessary ornament in the place, as it might distract you and lead your spirit and imagination astray.» — la limpieza y la desnudez del cuarto se justifican por la atención, no por la pureza ritual.

«It goes without saying, that when it comes to performing your Operations, the most pure you can be for dedicating yourselves to the Art is when you rise at dawn. This is because your spirit is in a state of great tranquillity and is less prone to be distracted and will not be full of extraneous thoughts, which will divert its attention.» — el alba se elige por el estado del ánimo del operador.

«The Talismans, Pentacles, Mystical Images, Sigils, Characters and other suchlike Talismans, which are the main tools for working with Occult Science, can be created with different materials. You can make them on virgin parchment, on metal plates, on magnetic stones, on jasper, agate and on other precious stones.» — capítulo III del Key 1: los soportes admitidos para las figuras.

«But it does not last as well as the metals, nor can it be used in the same ways since the metals have [direct] correspondences with the Planets.» — el pergamino queda por debajo del metal, y la razón es la correspondencia planetaria.

«They must [po 11] have some correspondence and similarity with the Planet and Constellation of the Cabalistic diagram you are working with.» — la regla general de materia y planeta.

«For instance, if you were to use a lead plate and engrave a diagram relating to the Sun on it, you would not succeed at all. And it is the same for all the other Planets.» — el texto pone la falla del cruce metal-planeta como fracaso total de la operación.

«Take a little lamb or a little kid goat, six weeks old or thereabouts, and have it ready for the eve of the feast day of St John the Baptist.» — arranque de la fabricación del pergamino virgen, fechada en la víspera de San Juan.

«Then cut its throat with a new knife, used only for Operations of the Art and which has not been used for any other purpose.» — la exclusividad del instrumento, que reaparece en todo el Key 1.

«You should not rely upon meddlesome charlatans, who try to sell this kind of parchment but you should make a conscientious effort to try to make it yourself and here is this method for preparing it.» — el texto desconfía del pergamino comprado y manda hacerlo.

«As you will have noted above, this procedure should be begun on the eve of the feast day of St John the Baptist,l since [po 15] in the original Hebrew of the Keys, it is said that this should be on the 23rd day of June, according to our calendar, when the sun is at its peak and in the highest part of our hemisphere.» — el texto invoca un original hebreo de las Claves para fijar la fecha, la misma fuente hebrea que la introducción declara no hallada.

«Animals, birds, insects, plants, herbs and other things, which you will be able to use in appropriate secret Operations of the Cabalah, must be prepared as much as possible under a sympathetic planetary constellation and at the right hour, especially if it falls on the eve of the feast day of St John the Baptist.» — la regla del tiempo se extiende a toda la materia viva de la operación.

«It is very important to have a small casket of olive or hazel wood, a foot and a half 1 in length and the height and width proportional to the length. You can use another wood, if you like, with no reservations, provided that it is new, lined with a piece of new white cloth and fitted with a little lock.» — capítulo IV del Key 1: el cofre que guarda el equipo, con la licencia de cambiar la madera si es nueva; el 1 es llamada de nota.

«In addition, you should have three knives in the casket, one of which should be sharp and with a white handle, another whose point should be in the shape of ancient cutlasses, with a black handle, and one whose point should be in the shape of a sickle, also with a black handle.» — los tres cuchillos del arte, distinguidos por color de mango y forma de punta.

«You will also have in the same casket a phial made of strong glass, filled with purified water, that is to say, water prepared with the ceremonies used for water blessed on the eve of Easter.» — el agua del arte se define por el rito litúrgico del Sábado Santo.

«Also a small ball of new thread in order to help draw the bigger circles with accuracy, when you are required to make them on the ground or on the floor during the Great Operations.» — el cordel de trazar, único instrumento de medida del círculo.

«The Sages of Old have called the Sun and the Moon, 'The Eyes of Heaven'. They meant by this name, that the Creator of the Universe has endowed these two Eyeglasses with major and special authority over everything that he has made in Nature.» — capítulo V del Key 1: la autoridad de los dos luminares se deriva del Creador.

«If you need to, consult an Almanac or take the advice of a skilled Astrologer, or even use the Ephemerides of Argole» — el texto remite a instrumentos impresos y a un tercero para el cálculo.

«The strictest of observers will note that the Moon begins its progression at the beginning of the Sign of the Ram [Aries] and at this time, emits most benevolent influences for prosperity, journeys and business. Any Talismans or Characters made under this Constellation at this particular time will protect travellers, and people conducting business, from dangers and perils.» — apertura del recorrido lunar por los doce signos; los corchetes son de la traducción.

«Then, entering into the Sign of the Crab [Cancer], which our ancestors have called Alnaza, that is to say, the Dark House,l [po 23] the Moon radiates malign influences, such as successful betrayals, conspiracies and other assaults.» — el único signo que el capítulo declara maligno de suyo, con su nombre de mansión.

«Nevertheless, if the Crab finds itself in a benign aspect with the auspicious Planets, such as Jupiter, Venus or Mercury, then the Talismans will be favourable for love, games of chance and for the discovery of treasures.» — y la excepción que el mismo pasaje le pone: el aspecto benéfico revierte el signo.

«The Key of Solomon is the most famous and infamous of all the grimoires and books on magic.» — Skinner y Rankine abren la introducción colocando a la Clavícula en el primer lugar del género, con las dos famas juntas.

«Astonishingly, despite this, only one English translation has ever been published and made available in the public domain» — el motivo declarado de la edición, según los editores: pese a esa fama, en inglés solo circulaba la de Mathers de 1889.

«There have however been several printed editions in French.» — el contraste que los editores oponen al vacío inglés.

«The edition reproduced by L.W. de Laurence in 1916 as The Greater Key of Solomon cannot be classed as an edition, or anything other than gross literary piracy of Mathers' work.» — Skinner y Rankine niegan a la reimpresión de De Laurence la condición de edición.

«For years after its publication in 1889 in the first edition of 500 copies, The Key of Solomon the King did not sell well, its import barely acknowledged outside the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn.» — la recepción que los editores atribuyen a la primera edición de Mathers.

«Indeed, even members of the Golden Dawn were dismissive of it, particularly that almost pathologically anti-magic scholar Arthur Edward Waite, who wrote rather harshly in the same year that: "it must be concluded that the Key of Solomon is a grotesque combination of the pompous and ridiculous."» — los editores citan el juicio de Waite y lo enmarcan con un epíteto propio; las comillas rectas interiores son de la fuente.

«Our thanks to Paul Harry Barron for his conscientious translation of the original French of the manuscripts, and to Dr. Peter Forshaw for his translation of the Latin invocations.» — los agradecimientos adjudican la traducción del francés a Barron y la de las invocaciones latinas a Forshaw, no a los editores.

«In translating the Psalms used in the Key, the Douay Bible version has been used in preference to the King James Version as being more accurate, and closer to what was available before 1611.» — la decisión de versión bíblica y su razón, declaradas por los editores.

«Also our thanks to Robert Mathiesen who devised the first typology of the manuscripts of the Key of Solomon.» — el crédito de la tipología manuscrita que la introducción revisa después.

«A special thank you to Ioannis Marathakis who kindly supplied us with an English version of Chapter 8 of his Greek work Anazetontas ten Kleida tau Solomonta on the Magical Treatise of Solomon.» — de ahí procede el material griego sobre la Hygromanteia que la introducción usa.

«The illustrations from Wellcome MS 3669 and Wellcome MS 3670 have been reproduced with the kind permission of the Wellcome Trust, for which we are duly grateful.» — el origen de las láminas, distinto del de los tres manuscritos editados.

«Nonne Salomon dominatus dCI!monum est? "Had not Solomon dominion over the demons?" - Pentecost sermon by Leontius of Constantinople, 11th century» — el epígrafe del volumen, con su traducción al pie; la capa de texto rinde daemonum como dCI!monum.

«"This book is only a sowing of phantasms destined for an unknown reaper. It is he who will decide how to make use of it." - loan Couiiano, Eros and Magic in the Renaissance» — el segundo epígrafe, atribuido a Couliano; el troceo imprime loan Couiiano.

«Looking through the libraries of Europe and America, we have located 144 manuscripts of the Key of Solomon, and its associated text the Hygromanteia, spanning the four centuries from 1440 to 1825.» — el censo manuscrito que los editores declaran haber hecho, con la Hygromanteia contada dentro.

«Of the manuscripts we located, fifty-one, or more than a third, are in French.» — la razón declarada de concentrar la edición en testimonios franceses.

«Additionally, we encountered a number of manuscripts incorrectly labelled as the Key of Solomon by their owners or by librarians, but which in fact contained completely different grimoire material, and these are recorded in Appendix B.» — los editores separan un apéndice para las atribuciones de catálogo que rechazan.

«Of these, Wellcome MS 4669 and Wellcome MS 4670 stood out. Although not the earliest of the manuscripts, being dated 1796, they contained by far the greatest quantity _ of material, between them covered the content of three different manuscript Families, and are beautifully coloured.» — el criterio de selección: no antigüedad, sino cantidad de materia y cobertura de tres familias; el guion bajo es de la capa de texto.

«They also have a noteworthy provenance, as Wellcome MS 4670 is mentioned in Chapter 4 of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's classic novel of the magical path, Zanoni.» — la procedencia literaria que los editores adjudican al manuscrito del Key 1.

«The wording of the reference to Pierre Morissoneau is taken verbatim from the beginning of our manuscript, Wellcome MS 4670, and this is the only one of the Morissoneau manuscripts with such a reference in it. So it is almost certain that this specific manuscript, (or at the least a very close copy of it) was what Bulwer-Lytton was referring to.» — el argumento, y su límite: los editores dicen casi seguro y admiten la alternativa de una copia cercana.

«In the early 19th century, Denley employed Frederick Hockley to copy out grimoires, and lent a number of books and manuscripts to Francis Barrett, who was at that time compiling his classic work, The Magus.» — el eslabón londinense de la cadena de propietarios que los editores reconstruyen.

«This particular manuscript Wellcome MS 4670 was sold to the Wellcome Collection in 1932.» — el término de esa cadena.

«To bring things full circle, S. L. MacGregor Mathers, the editor of the 1889 edition of the Key of Solomon, was so entranced by his reading of Zanoni that his wife took to using 'Zan' as a nickname for her husband.» — el dato con que los editores cierran el círculo entre la novela y el editor anterior.

«Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner and Aleister Crowley (who recommended the reading of Zanoni as "valuable for its facts and suggestions") were all keen readers of this seminal novel.» — los lectores que los editores enumeran para la misma novela.

«King Solomon is arguably the most interesting figure in the Bible. Famed for his wisdom and the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as for his many wives and excursions into pagan idolatry, it was perhaps inevitable that he should also have been associated with magic.» — cómo los editores explican la asociación entre Salomón y la magia: por la idolatría que la Biblia le adjudica, no por un texto suyo.

«As Grillot de Givry writes: "It is not unlikely that a sovereign who had sacrificed to Moloch, Chemosh, and Ashtoreth should try to evoke demons or write regarding the method of enforcing their appearance. Christian authors have affirmed that he did SO.» — la voz de Grillot de Givry citada por los editores; el troceo imprime SO en versales por so.

«A related grimoire, the Testament of Solomon (3rd century CE) shows him commanding a series of 60 demons beginning with Ornias, and including Beelzeboul, Asmodeus, and the demons of the 36 Decans.» — los editores sitúan el Testamento como grimorio emparentado y cuentan sesenta demonios.

«Because of the inclusion of the 36 Decans, Torijan03 tends to view the book as astrologically based, but it is much more of a grimoire, as it lays out clearly, possibly for the first time, the use of individual opposing angels to control specific demons, and it also elaborates on the significance of Solomon's ring.» — desacuerdo declarado con Torijano sobre qué clase de libro es el Testamento; el 3 pegado al apellido es la llamada de nota.

«The latter even asserts that Solomon shut up demons in urns which he sealed and buried in the earth, although perhaps to record that they were submerged in a lake or the sea, might have been closer to the tradition.» — sobre Gregentius; los editores proponen otro motivo, el que a su juicio dice la tradición, con un perhaps.

«Around 1240, the Bishop of Paris, William of Auvergne (1190-1249) mentioned a number of pseudo-Solomonic works in his De Legibus.» — el primer inventario medieval que los editores citan para el corpus atribuido a Salomón.

«"To this sort of idolatry belongs those four figures which are called the Rings of Solomon, and a fifth which is called the Seal of Solomon, and nine others which are called the Nine Scarabs. 1 The most execrable consecrations and most detestable invocations, writings, images in all these contain very evident impiety of idolatry.» — la condena de Guillermo de Auvernia en la traducción que imprimen los editores; el 1 es llamada de nota.

«The thirteenth century also saw Albertus Magnus listing five books attributed to Solomon in his Speculum Astronomiae.» — el segundo inventario, con el sic que los editores ponen a Liber Almadel.

«"notes perhaps from more than one source, on the analogy between the [three] patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the three divisions of philosophy (moralis, naturalis, inspectiva), and the three books of Solomon.» — Thorndike sobre la Philosophy of Solomon, citado por los editores; los corchetes son de la fuente que ellos copian.

«The thirteenth century Byzantine historian, Nicetas Choniates made reference in Book IV of his history of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus to a book held by the interpreter and magician Aaron Isaac, which /I could cause legions of demons to appear" when read aloud, which was said to be a work by Solomon.» — el testimonio bizantino; la capa de texto rinde la comilla de apertura como /I.

«In the seventeenth century both Jean-Jacques Boissard in his Treatise on Divination (published posthumously in 1616) and Michael Maier (1617) wrote that Aaron Isaac had used the Clavicula Salomon is for nefarious reasons, perpetuating the view that this book had been the Key of Solomon.» — dos autores del propio campo que los editores presentan como hostiles al libro.

«Nearly two centuries earlier in his Apologia, the Genovese magician Pica della Mirandola (1463-1494) said that "his practical Cabalah had nothing to do with wicked magics going under the name of Solomon, Moses, Enoch, or Adam, by which demons were conjured by bad magicians.» — el deslinde de Pico; el troceo imprime Pica della Mirandola y lo llama genovés, y las dos formas se citan tal cual.

«A book simply called Le Livre de Salomon ('The Book of Solomon'), which was full of rules for invoking demons, was said to have been burned around 1350 at the order of Pope Innocent VI.» — la quema declarada por los editores, en voz pasiva y sin fuente nombrada en la línea.

«The Dominican inquisitor Nicholas Eymerich (1320-1399) wrote in his Directorium Inquisitorum (1376) that he had confiscated various books from necromancers, including a work called the 'Table of Solomon'.» — la confiscación inquisitorial que los editores registran.

«A century later in 1456, Hartlieb mentioned the Sigillum Salomonis ('Seal of Solomon') and the Clavicula Salomonis ('Key of Solomon') in a pamphlet addressed to Duke John of Burgundy. This dating of the Clavicula Salomonis is significant, giving it a first written Latin reference to that title in the mid-15th century.» — el dato de datación que los editores subrayan: la primera mención latina del título.

«The stream·of books attributed to Solomon continued, with a large number, including some of those previously mentioned, being listed by Abbot Johannes Trithemius in his work Antipalus Maleficorum written around 1508, but not published till 1555.» — el inventario de Tritemio, con el desfase de casi cincuenta años entre escritura e impresión.

«A number of these texts are also referred to by the French writer Gabriel Naudaeus in his 1625 work The History of Magic by way of an Apology.» — el eslabón del siglo XVII en la cadena de catálogos.